I have Oticon Opn behind the ear (BTE) hearing aids. They are pretty good. What I like about them specifically are
- Custom molded ear canal inserts. At first I thought I would dislike molded inserts but I really like them. I think they help improve performance. They also help better secure the hearing aids so they do not fall off easily.
- Easy to adjust using the up down buttons on hearing aids. There is a phone app but I do not use it much.
- TV adapter. I have a small box attached to my TV that allows me to hear the TV directly through my hearing aids via Bluetooth.
- Small.
- I love the Bluetooth capability to connect to my phone. This has really improved my life. Talking on the phone is so much easier as I can hear perfectly. Also, for listening to podcasts, they are perfect. I listen and learn from podcasts quite a bit and I have to say the seamless integration with my hearing aids makes this so easy. If I had to use earbuds to listen to podcasts, I probably would not listen as much (and miss out on learnings) and also would probably lose the ear buds. Also, taking my hearing aids out would reduce my ability to hear.
- Most importantly they seem to work well. My Oticon Opn hearing aids seem to work better than my prior hearing aids. I am not sure why because my prior pair are by no means cheap.
I do wish that my hearing aids had the ability to focus the microphones in different scenarios such as forward, 360 etc. I think this would be very helpful in conversations especially in noisy environments.
Similarly, the background noise suppression could be improved. In noisy environments it is very hard for me to hear and interact. I think many people are challenged by this. It is particularly challenging when there is a fan noise in the background. Human background chatter is an issue as well in restaurants when the chatter becomes like a constant noise. I think this is where the directional microphones would help.
The product materials seem to indicate that my Oticon Opn hearing aids can manage multiple noise sources. Maybe they can, but I still have difficulty in restaurants. Also, I have found that sometimes background noise suppression in hearing aids seems to cause the volume to decrease in general or get more dull.
Overall, I like my Oticon Opn hearing aids. Oh yeah, they also have tinnitus masking.